Dr. Samia Barakat is the recipient of an Honorary Lifetime Membership to the Manitoba Psychiatric Association. It was presented to her at the MPA AGM on May 6th, 2019.
Dr. Barakat productively served our community since completing her Postgraduate education in Psychiatry at the University of Manitoba in 1982. Overcoming the challenges of being an International Medical Graduate, she was appointed the first woman chair in Psychiatry in Canada in 1996, and initiated the vision for a “Crisis Response Centre”, a stand-alone resource available for individuals in need of mental health care, which opened in June 2013. Under her deft stewardship, research and scholarly work flourished in the Department of Psychiatry.
In 2007, she was appointed the inaugural Associate Dean, Professionalism and Diversity for the Faculty of Medicine, the first such position in Canada. Her commitment to Professionalism grew alongside her interests in Professional Boundaries. She co-founded a boundary training program for health professionals, and led the Max Rady College of Medicine’s production of “the Professionalism Charter”, an overarching guide for learners, faculty and staff at the College.
As an educator she developed and delivered mental health and illness curricula to enhance the knowledge, skills and attitudes of undergraduate and postgraduate medical learners. She served nationally within the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to ensure the clinical competencies of future psychiatrists.
Clinically, Dr. Barakat treated individuals most severely afflicted with mental illness. She practiced Shared-Care Psychiatry with an interprofessional team in a community-based primary health care setting, an exemplary commitment to our community.
In 2013 Dr Barakat was selected amongst “Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100” by the ”Women Executive Network”. As of 2017, Dr. Samia Barakat retired from professional duties and stepped down as Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Max Rady College of Medicine, and now has the rank of Professor Emeritus.
The MPA benefitted from many years of her wisdom and guidance, including her having led us as President in the past. We acknowledge and are grateful for the vision, leadership and service she provided to Manitobans and her profession.